North Hills School District administrators hope to update the high school's planetarium so that students get an out-of-this-world view of places out of this world.
“We want to be able to do a lot more things in that space than showing the stars,” said Jeffrey Taylor, assistant superintendent for curriculum, assessment and special programs.
“It would be like an IMAX theater and a science center. You could show videos that would be hard to see on a screen, whereas if you put it up on the dome, students would be really immersed in that.”
In June, administrators will ask the school board to include the purchase of a digital projector and lighting equipment to convert the planetarium to a digital immersion theater. The estimated cost is $51,000 for the projector and LED, or light-emitting diode, lights, which would replace current incandescent lighting.
If the plan is approved, the upgraded planetarium could be ready this fall.
The new equipment would be geared for astronomy classes but also could give a three-dimensional view of an atom for a chemistry class or of a cell for a biology class.
Sue Batson, science curriculum leader and planetarium director at the high school, said a social studies class could tour the Gettysburg battlefield with the equipment, for example.
And Taylor said students could use commercial music and design their own lighting or laser effects for shows.
“It's educational programming but in three dimensions,” said Rob Webb, a high school physics teacher and planetarium director at Pequea Valley High School in Lancaster County. “When you have digital projection, you can change your perspective. You can look at the solar system from outside itself. You can look at galaxies from outside themselves. You can zoom in on any point in the sky.”
Webb co-authored “The Current State of School-Associated Planetaria in Pennsylvania,” a 2011 article in Planetaria, a magazine of the International Planetarium Society. He found that at least 26 planetariums still were operating in the state.
Batson said the upgraded planetarium will help North Hills compete with other top-notch school districts in Allegheny County, and with cyber charter schools.
Webb's planetarium does not have digital immersion, but, he said, “It boosts your credibility 1,000 percent. If my kid wanted to be an astronomer, I would definitely want my son or daughter to be in a school with a planetarium on site and a good program to go with it.”
Senior Brandon Clem, president of the North Hills High School Astronomy Club, saw a preview of a digital show at the start of the school year from a company that sells the equipment.
“It was really cool,” said Clem, 18, of Ross. “They could zoom in on specific stars like they were using a telescope. It was also in color. Ours is not in color.”
Bill Zlatos is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-772-6353 or bzlatos@tribweb.com.
